1963 Chevrolet Corvette - Classical Gassers

Converting A Corvette To A Legendary Dragster

Explaining the more-modest boost pressure, he says, "This version is more user friendly and streetable than the go-fast '62. I wanted the motor to live, not race, so I can cruise around town." (Well, maybe not just cruise, but you get the idea.) Even though the car is intended for street duty, Glass added some comp-grade components, such as a Lakewood scattershield and a block saver (a 1/8-inch steel plate between the block and the bellhousing).

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He also thought about adding fender-well headers that exited in front of the cab, but he didn't want to cut up the body to do so. "I can't get the purist out of my head." So he went with a set of Hooker headers instead, Jet-Hot coated.

The rearend has a fairly tall ratio at 3.73:1, since the car isn't seeing any hard-core track time. But it has been lifted with air shocks to fit those fat Coker "pie crust" slicks (so named for the pinched edges of the sidewalls). At the front are ET Gasser rims wrapped with BFG Silverton skinnies.

These days, this Split-Window Gasser grabs knowing glances from a more mature crowd. You know, the type who wear T-shirts that read, "Old Guys Rule." They did, and they still do.

It's a Gas, Gas, Gasser
Dave and Mary Glass admit that the inspiration for their Corvette Gassers didn't come on its own, but from a fellow enthusiast. While attending a Turkey Rod Run in Daytona, Florida, back in 2002, they spotted a '60 Vette with a straight-axle setup for drag racing, and got real excited. "Everyone loved the car, so we tried to buy it, but the owner wouldn't sell," says Dave. Undaunted, they decided to build their own version, using a '62 Corvette in need of some serious attention.

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"We bought the car about 10 years ago. It was sitting in a garage, had not been running for some time, and needed a total restoration," he recalls. The Vette, which had been raced previously, had a 350 small-block Chevy (instead of the original 327), a four-speed trans, and a Dana rearend with traction bars. But the owner lost interest in the project, and Dave took it off his hands, thinking he might bring it back to original spec.

After seeing people's reactions to the '60 straight-axle Vette in Florida, though, he decided to pull some parts off his '33 Willys, which used to run in the 10s back in the early '70s. To perform the transplant without carving up the Vette, he built a removable subframe for the straight-axle frontend.

In the meantime, Glass had his shop strip the paint down to bare fiberglass, which took a solid two weeks' worth of sanding, rather than risking damage from the use of blasting or a chemical strip. "All solid-axle Corvettes are very time consuming, because of all the curves," he points out. Since there was no trim code back then, he had no idea what the original color was, which freed him up to choose the same maroon that Mazmanian used on his Gasser (and which happened to be his favorite color anyway, since his first car, a '67 Sting Ray, was Marlboro Maroon).

The '33 Willys also contributed its impressive powerplant, built by racer Gary Dyer of Mr. Norm fame. The engine is a 327ci Chevy, bored 0.60 over and outfitted with a Milodon four-bolt main and Venolia blower pistons. To handle the forced induction from the straight-up 6-71 GMC blower, the block has been O-ringed and fitted with studded 202 Fuelie heads, a complete roller cam and kit, and topped with dual Holley carbs. While the engine has the appearance of a full-on Gasser mill, it starts right up without a hiccup and emits a steady growl when Glass tools around town or on the show grounds.

The driveline has a four-speed trans and 4.88 gears in a Dana 60 rearend. The rubber came from the Willys as well, a set of M&H 31-inch meats on 13x15 American Racing rims.

The car's interior was customized by the original owner. Glass added a hardtop he had in stock in order to protect it and give the car the period look of Mazmanian's Gasser. Even so, he never loses sight of the inherent value of an older Corvette. "One of the best things about the car is that it could be put back to original if someone wanted to."

Whether that will ever happen remains to be seen, but in the meantime, Dave and Mary are enjoy paying tribute in their own way to the era of the famed Gassers. "Everything is so high-tech now," he notes. "People really appreciate us emulating the time when drag racing was drag racing." What a gas!

This is a pretty interesting dude. Maybe that’s why he drives a pretty interesting car: a highly modified 1954 Chevrolet Corvette Gasser with its front end raked toward the clouds. It’s one of many rides Battersby owns, but it’s probably his signature car, the one he usually drives to shows and other events in the area. » Read More